Academy Award and Tony Award-winning actress Judi Dench has detailed the realities of her eye problem, which led to her losing her vision and stepping away from the stage and screen.
“No, you don’t [see me on camera]because I can’t see anymore,” she told an ITV News reporter during a recent joint interview with her longtime collaborator and friend Ian McKellen, with whom she starred in Macbeth in 1979.
When McKellen joked that they could see her, the veteran star replied: “Yes, and I can see your outlines and I know you so well, in your Macbeth scarf. But I don’t recognize anyone now.
THE Notes on a scandal The star continued: “I can’t see TV, I can’t see to read.”
THE X-Men a former student then jokingly asked Dench if she ever spoke to “complete strangers” [to] “It’s nice to see you again,” to which she laughed and replied, “Sometimes!”
Dench, who has had a storied career since his memorable appearance in Shakespeare in Love to her terrific portrayal of M in Daniel Craig’s film as James Bond, has been open about her diagnosis of age-related macular degeneration, a degenerative eye disease that affects the central part of the retina and leads to distortion or loss of central vision, since 2012.
She hinted at her retirement last year, and the year before, said: “It’s difficult for me if I have a certain length of role. I haven’t found a way yet. Because I have so many friends who will teach me the script. But I have a photographic memory.”
His most recent credits include an appearance in the 2022 Apple TV+ Christmas musical Fierywith Will Ferrell and Ryan Reynolds. ITV noted that the Belfast The star also appeared in a recent holiday-themed advert in the UK. She and McKellen are currently supporting an initiative to revitalize the William Shakespeare curriculum taught in English schools, using rehearsals as teaching tools to reinvigorate understanding of the bard.
